Unlocking Isaiah

I've heard the book of Isaiah described as the key to the Old Testament, and it is one of those beasty books that is pretty hefty and takes up a lot of Bible space! If you've been put off reading it before, then I really want to encourage you to try reading it from beginning to end, systematically, to really get the sense of the whole book. I think that the book of Isaiah really shows vividly the story of God's salvation, so hopefully this post will give you some helpful handles to grasp onto as you read the book.

1. Creation
The fact that God is the LORD and Creator of everything is emphasised repeatedly in this book, and for good reason! Israel were in a time of chaos and disobedience, and God's judgement was coming upon them; they were going into exile. But Isaiah's message to them as God's prophet in this time was a message of ultimate hope, because they were not simply flies to be squashed, but God's own chosen people whom He was planning to redeem. With big super-powers like Egypt and Babylon looming over them, the Israelites lost confidence in God. Isaiah reminds them that the reason these foreign nations have power over them is because of their sin, and that God is in control behind the human military events that were taking place. Instead of being afraid of other armies, they should be more afraid of God!

'who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die... And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth' (Isa 51:12-13)

2. Sin
Isaiah points out to the people the problem of their sin, from fake religion (trying to impress God with rituals yet not really, in their hearts, loving and trusting Him) to open corruption. The first 39 chapters are pretty hard-going, because there is a constant emphasis on Israel's sin and how God's judgement is coming. But these chapters are in our Bibles for a reason. They show us how seriously God takes sin. They show us that God sees our hearts and motives, and that's what matters more than any outward appearance:

'this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men.' (Isa 29:13)

Note that Jesus Himself quotes this passage in Matthew 15 and Mark 7 when teaching and warning people about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. The more you get familiar with Isaiah, the more you can see the connections with the ministry of Jesus.

3. Saviour
There are several key passages in Isaiah about a 'servant' of God, who will be instrumental in bringing salvation to His people. These are clear prophecies about Jesus Christ, and Jesus Himself was very aware of them, and how He fulfilled them in His own person and ministry. Read Isaiah 42 and 52-53 and I'm sure you won't need to look too far to see the clear parallels. If you've got a reference Bible as well, look at how the New Testament uses Isaiah's prophecies and teaches that they are about Jesus (eg. Mt 8:17). In fact, the account of Jesus praying in Gethsemane 'remove this cup from me' (Lk 22:42), doesn't make sense if you don't know the picture in Isaiah 51:17 of the 'cup of His fury' (that is, God's wrath against sin and His judgement upon it). Jesus knew that on the cross, He would drink that cup, fully bearing the punishment for our sin, so that we could be restored to God. The picture in Isaiah of a Saviour help us to love and worship Jesus with more richness and depth than ever before.

4. Restoration
There are so many wonderful passages in Isaiah about a forthcoming time of blessing and peace:

'For the LORD shall comfort Zion: He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.' (Isa 51:3)

When Jesus returns and God's people are raised to life in the new creation, we will experience Eden restored, a closeness with God that we could never have on earth, and a joy of forgiveness knowing that Jesus drunk the cup for us, and has won for us an eternal salvation.

'My righteousness shall be for ever, and My salvation from generation to generation.' Isa 51:8)

Understanding Revelation

The apocalyptic form of Revelation has often made it an off-putting choice for personal Bible reading and study. Yet it would be a mistake to assume that Revelation is only for theologians or the most academic of believers. Though its contents are sometimes obscure and confusing, the basic message of Revelation is the gospel, as Graeme Goldsworthy has argued. The whole book is about Christ being the conqueror: over Satan, death and all the forces of evil. Christ's victory is not something for the future; it is a present reality. John, the author, shows how the cosmic battle between Christ and Satan relates to the struggles of God's people on earth as they face persecution, and gives his readers the hope and assurance of final victory.

The God of Revelation is the God of the whole of Scripture: righteous and true to judge the wicked and deliver His elect people. Revelation is a book of blood: the blood of the saints is shed by the wicked ('They cried out with a loud voice, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"' 6:10), the saints are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ ('by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation' 5:9), and the earth is punished through the transformation of water into blood (8:8, 11:6, 16:4). In the final victory of the Lord over all His enemies, the winepress image is used from Isa 63: 'and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.' (14:20) The wicked are not allowed to triumph; they may appear at times on earth to have won, but in the end they are all utterly destroyed. This is what the whole of creation has waited for since the Fall of man in Genesis 3.

As Goldsworthy explains, the first advent of Christ brought all time and history into crisis. The incarnation inaugurated the end time, and Jesus' death and resurrection defeated Satan and his time is now short (12:12). The cross guarantees God's final triumph and proclaims the presence of the future in the present age. Although it may seem paradoxical, Revelation announces the victory that is 'now' and yet also 'not now'. In chapter 1, John sees a vision of Jesus Christ which is unmistakably emphasising His lordship: 'the ruler of the kings of the earth' (1:5); 'the Alpha and the Omega' (1:8). He is the Son of man from Daniel 7, given authority over the nations. He proclaims: 'I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.' (1:17-18) There is no hint of doubt in Christ's ability to save those who come to Him. He has defeated death itself.

However, as the constant presence of martyrs in the book of Revelation reminds us, God's people must still face death whilst they are on earth. In fact, they must face brutal suffering, just as Jesus Himself did. Although we can say with confidence that our redemption is a finished work, there is undeniably a sense in which Revelation shows us a future completion of that redemption, in the new creation (see chapter 21). The vision of heaven in chapter 4-5 is an elaborate drama where John is reduced to weeping because there is no one worthy to open the sealed scroll. But then he is told that there IS one: 'the lion of the tribe of Judah... has conquered' (5:5). When he looks up, he sees 'a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain' (5:6). Here then is what Barnett describes as 'the crowning paradox of the gospel': Jesus is the Lion of Judah precisely because He is the Lamb who was slain. The fact that only He can open the scroll symbolises the fact that He is the key to the truth about the kingdom of God (Goldsworthy). Christ is the meaning of creation, and what God achieved in Christ is the goal of all His purposes as expressed in the Old Testament and the New. Therefore Goldworthy argues:

'The structure and message of Revelation is not based on a few spectacular events immediately preceding the second coming of Christ, but rather upon the historic facts of the gospel, the person and work of Jesus Christ.'

What, then, does Revelation teach us about the future? The answer is mainly that Christ's victory is secure, and therefore so is the future of the saints. In Jesus' messages to the seven churches in chapters 2-3, He makes seven different promises to 'the one who conquers' or 'overcomes'. Because He has already overcome, He will establish His faithful ones in Paradise. But in the present time, Jesus urges them to persevere (note that four of the churches are specifically commended for endurance or not denying the faith). As Goldsworthy argues, Jesus wills to extend His conquest into the lives of men and women through the preaching of the gospel, and this puts the church in the midst of the apocalyptic war. The struggles of the local churches to live out the gospel, to resist the impact of non-Christian values and ideas, and to stay true to the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, are all part of the conquest of the world through the gospel. Christians are not onlookers while a cosmic conflict rages in spiritual realms, but rather they are participants. Christ's 'mopping-up' campaign against Satan is actually being worked out in the front-line trenches of local church evangelism, pastoral care, teaching and preaching.

'Here is a call for the endurance of the saints' (14:12) John writes, and the vivid imagery of Satan as the dragon in chapter 12, and the terrifying beasts from the sea and from the earth in chapter 13, shows how God's people will be beset by the powers of evil in this present age. But the visions of the seven seals and seven trumpets and seven plagues, and finally the ruin of Babylon, show that God's judgement will be final and severe. All rebellion will be eliminated as the beast and Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire (ch19-20), and the new creation will be a return to the state of Eden with access given to the tree of life. 'They will see His face,and His Name will be on their foreheads' (22:4). Jesus declares, 'I am coming soon' (22:7), and though we do not know the day or the hour, we need to be ready for Him.